Letter From Old Settler Mrs. Frank Abbott (nee Kling) In a recent issue of your paper, I notice you call for communications from the old settlers of Marquette county and I am glad to respond. No doubt there are quite a number who have resided in the county longer than myself, among that number I recall Mrs. David Turner and Mrs. John Franklin of Oxford, Noah Allen of Packwaukee, Mrs. S. D. Forbes, Miss Rebecca Lawton, Mrs. Wm. Phillips, Mrs. John Bennett and Mrs. Allen Wood of Westfield. In the fall fo 1855 I came, with my parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Kling, from Walworth County, Wisconsin to Marquette county and settled on the farm now owned by Martin Purdy. Oxford was then the metropolis of the Indian lands, a distributing center for this part of Wisconsin. It was a busy town in those days and drew trade from points very nearly or quite to Grand Rapids, also from other points in every direction. Pettibone and Jaeger Company were the leading merchants and sold more goods in a day than an average merchant now sells in a week. people came to trade from such long distances they had to spend the night in Oxford and return the next day. When we were living on the Purdy farm our nearest neighbors were Mr. Bishop, Mr. Cable and Mr. Farnham. The latter kept a tavern, as it was called, in a log house on his farm just west of us. A four-horse stage coach ran from Portage to Grand Rapids and this tavern was the daily stopping place for dinner and change of horses. About the same time a stage also ran from Portage to Stevens Point. Indians were numerous and were on friendly terms with everyone. A favorite camping ground for them was on the Portage road very near us. One old chief, Mackawymee, will be remembered by the older settlers. I attended school during the winter of '55 and '56. Robert Baker was the teacher. His efficiency in teaching the common-school branches I have rarely seen equaled and never surpassed. "Thoroughness" was his motto and he expected his pupils to live up to it. Some of his pupils, beside myself, who still reside in Marquette county are Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Churchill of Endeavor, Mrs. Eli McNutt of Oxford and Mrs. Ben Wilbur of Packwaukee. In the summer of 1857 I taught my first term of school in what was then called (and perhaps is now) the Vroman neighborhood. The schoolhouse was a 12 x 14 building which had once served as a granary, but then stood in the dooryard of the old Vrooman homestead. I received ten dollars a month and boarded around. Would our present day teachers think that a tempting proposition? I fear not. My husband, Frank Abbott, was among the very early settlers of Oxford. He was the postmaster and druggist for fourteen years. So far as i know there is not a person living in the village now who was there in 1855. Mrs. David Turner now lives in Oxford but at that time she was living on a farm about a mile northwest of the village. I have a diary in my possession written in 1845 or a little later in which is recorded this item: "We are expecting a railroad very soon." This must have been a vision of the Northwestern which reached Oxford so recently. In the fall of 1876 the railroad came through Westfield and my husband came here and built a store. The next year he moved his family to Westfield, where I have made my home ever since. I hope some of the older settlers will respond and give some of their earlier experiences. --Mrs. Frank Abbott
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